Laser Excitation Matrix-Isolation Spectroscopy

Perhaps the most significant recent development in the field of matrix isolation spectroscopy has proven to be the laser-Raman matrix technique. Infrared absorption and Raman scattering spectroscopic methods provide complementary information on vibrational data for the large body of interesting molecular species which require matrix synthesis and stabilization. The laser-excitation technique offers several advantages over the IR experiment: (1) the possibility of obtaining new chemical species by laser photolysis, (2) the observation of resonance Raman spectra which provide harmonic and anharmonic vibrational constants from overtone bands, and (3) the possible observation of fluorescence from new chemical species. Specific experimental examples of complementary IR and Raman studies, laser photolysis, resonance-Raman, and flouorescence spectra are discussed.